Ten
by piper maru duchovny
Summary: Ten Marshall/Mary ficlets.


I needed to clear my head of all the cobwebs to see if I could get my muse to work.

Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own a darn thing.

1. Pick a character, fandom, pairing, and friendship, whatever.

2. Put on your music program on shuffle/random and start playing songs.

3. For each song, write something inspired by the song related to the theme you chose earlier. You only have the song length. No pre-planning and no writing after the song is over. No skipping songs either.

4. Do 10 songs and post. Make sure to include the song name/artist.

* * *

**Blank Sheet of Paper – Tim McGraw**

Another sip of whiskey and the unlined paper lit only by the dimming yellow light of the lamp in the corner was still blank. The pen hovered three centimeters from contact and his mind couldn't make up the words that could explain what he was feeling. Marshall Mann had never been so verbally impotent at such an inconvenient time. She's going to leave. She's going to marry Raph, become a good housewife and eventually quit the Marshal service to mother their perfect two point five children. He needed the words, the words that would keep her from leaving him. He scrawled in chicken scratch, _'Dear Mary'_ and the rest simply wouldn't come. Dawn seeped through the curtains as a lone tear fell down his pale cheek before splattering against the stark white page. The tear stained the blank sheet of paper and it would have to be enough.

**Lookin' For a Good Time – Lady Antebellum**

The jukebox in the corner plays a boot stomping country song as the cowboys lead their ladies around the peanut shell covered dance floor. Marshall Mann walks into the bar and takes a seat next to the blond who's nursing a whiskey on the rocks. She looks over at him and she smiles as he tips his hat in her direction signaling for the bartender to give him the same. She chuckles, "Alright, John Wayne. One dance." He smirks as he takes her hand and leads her out to the floor, "Don't fight me on this Mary. I get to lead." She's languid in his arms as they dance around the floor laughing and talking about anything but work. They were having a good time.

**Guinevere – Eli Young Band**

Marshall likes to believe that he is the encyclopedia on everything Mary Shannon but even his vast knowledge barely scrapes the surface of the walking enigma. She holds onto an ever burning anger toward her father but continually forgives her mother and sister for their never ending series of mistakes. She can drink any man under the table but as the liquid burns her throat she continually gets a look of regret in her sad eyes. Mary refuses to hang onto anything of importance because everything, everyone, eventually leaves her and she can't handle the pain. She's a runner who stays stationary, a graceful klutz, a living oxymoron. She obliviously holds the key to his heart and lets him in when she shuts the rest of the world out. For as much as the chaos of the world scares her, she always has Marshall – King Arthur to the fearless Guinevere.

**I Break Things – Erika Jo**

Mary Shannon should come with a warning label. Ever since she could walk, Mary was into everything, destroying whatever got in her way. It started with dishes when she was four years old and she worked her way up to cars and reckless hearts. Staring at Marshall over a Witsec file she feels like she should warn her new partner to run whichever way the wind will take him. He looks small and a bit fragile, completely unable to handle the wild mustang that is the U.S. Marshal. Walking out the door to the waiting SUV he holds up the keys, "I'm driving." As the truck peels out of the parking lot and she has to hold onto the grip bar as they fly around the corner Mary Shannon believes she just might have met her match.

**Psycho – Puddle of Mudd**

Deep inside his bones he feels this pulse that beats wild and reckless counter-intuitive to his usual cool and controlled exterior. His partner is as unruly as the day is long as she bends rules, breaks laws, and protects criminals. She lives with her heart on her sleeve as she runs from everything horrible in her life; bound and determined to atone the sins of her family. As often as he calls Mary crazy, Marshall's beginning to see the value of her constant craziness. She gets it out of her system instead of letting it build for decades beneath the surface. Maybe, just maybe, Marshall's the psycho.

**Yeah! - Usher**

The smoke filled club is giving him a migraine with the neon lights and thumping music. Marshall is going to kill Stan for this undercover assignment. Mary is stood with one of the cops as she twists her hips to the unfamiliar beat. He tries to remember how to breathe but his eyes are transfixed by her bared hip bones popping and twisting to the music as she catches his eye and winks. Falling back against a wall far too many people have had sex against, Marshall Mann gasps for air – he is definitely going to murder Stan. Mary's head sways to the beat as she raises her arms and leans back against their fellow officer and they grind their way to the floor to the rap song. He resists the urge to shoot the officer as Mary signals him with a roll of her head to their suspect. Yeah, it was go time.

**Rain – Breaking Benjamin **

The long white dress shirt brushed her thighs as she drew her legs underneath her, tucking her golden blond hair behind her ear and staring out the window. Rain slid like minuscule rivers racing to pool on the sill below. She hated the rain with a fiery passion. Rain meant Jinx would get depressed and drunk, Brandi would bitch about how bored she was. As for Mary, she would be stuck in the office for the vast majority of the day. Curling a damp lock around her finger, she felt two arms encircle her waist and lift her from the chair. His lips pressed to her bare shoulder, "C'mon, I've got something to keep you busy til the rain stops".

**Shattered – O.A.R. **

How many times can one person break until they shatter beyond repair? When my father left, he made the first crack in my young heart. Every time Jinx got drunk another tiny crack would come off the big crack that Dad made. Every time I had to clean up Brandi's mistakes another crack would join the rest my family had already made. Raph managed to break and repair repeatedly til I wasn't sure if my heart was mangled and broken or healed and loved. All I know is that without Raphael, I'm good. I'm good without him. I'm more than good. I'm better without him. No more second chances, it's time and I'm moving on to someone who is good for me.

**Bodies – Drowning Pool **

The heels of your boots squeak against the tile floor of the federal building as you round corners at lightning speed. _Shots Fired. _You know he's there and all you can do is run faster. You enter the stand off with your gun drawn and just like that it begins. With a bang, your gun is fired at one of the suspects as you pull him behind one of the cars. You hand him your reserve weapon as you keep firing at the people that seem to be growing in number. The air fills with the metallic smell of blood mixed with the smoke of gun powder. Your ears are ringing when the final body hits the floor.

**I Will Be Your Friend – Amy Grant**

And maybe she didn't want to see it or maybe she had never taken the time to notice it before, but Marshall Mann was her best friend. She had taken his friendship for granted all this time and now as he was dying with an automotive part keeping his lungs working, she realized it. Marshall had taken the time to get to know her, really know her, to tear her walls down and make her believe that someone truly cared for her. He made her laugh when another guy walked out before she woke up. He went with her to get Jinx when she was too drunk to drive. He made Brandi see common sense when Mary wanted to put her fist through the wall. He was her best friend. She looked at his wheezing form and pressed a kiss to his sweat slicked face, "Marshall, look at me, you have to promise not to die on me, okay?"


End file.
